Ace of Spades
by XxNighttmareexX
Summary: Hailee is haunted by the memory of the event that occured in Goodsprings, but she insists to find Benny and end him. F! CourierxBoone. Later possible Swank romance. Rated M for language, violence and sexual content. Enjoy!


**Author's Note: My first Fallout New Vegas fanfic. Hip, hip! Please leave a comment and no bad judgment. I think another writer has used "Hailee" as their Courier name, but I'm just going to keep it this way anyways. Thank you and Enjoy!**

From the luminous light of the moon, Hailee was just barely able to make out the several fuzzy forms standing before her. She sat up with as much strength as she could muster, her sides burning with pain. Sluggishly, she pulled her hands up to scratch at her temple, yet realized that a rope had been tied tightly to keep them together and out of use. Shit. This was bad.

What was going on? One moment, she was on her delivery, and the next she's taken hostage by six thugs, or whoever the hell they were. Hailee blinked repeatedly to sharpen her eyesight. She took note in the seemingly normal man standing in the middle of them all, wearing a checkered shirt and a horrid smirk. She knew right away that he was in some sort of authority over the others.

"Guess who's waking up over here." A deep, raspy voice murmured. Hailee looked up to see the man in the checkered shirt had turned to look at her, taking a puff from his cigarette.

"Time to cash out." He said and stepped forward, throwing the cigarette down at his feet.

"Will you get it over with already?" One asked, standing at his right. He threw his hands up as if he were annoyed or had someplace to be. Taking a closer look, Hailee could see that they all appeared to resemble those of the Great Khans. Even better.

Checkered shirt held up a finger before replying, "Maybe Khans kill people before looking them in the face. But I ain't a fink, dig?" Then, he looked back at Hailee, reaching his hand into the line of his shirt and pulling out the Platinum Chip she'd been carrying for the past three days.

"You've made your last delivery, baby," That hand disappeared back inside the shirt, and pulled back out. But instead of the chip, a glistening silver pistol was held in his grasp. "Sorry you got twisted up in this scene."

Hailee thrashed for a second but there was no use. The ropes around her hands and legs were too powerful for even her to break. Checkered shirt raised an eyebrow, taking amusement in her struggling.

"From where you're kneeling, must seem like an 18. Karate run of bad luck." Slowly, surely, the pistol was aimed at her. Hailee winced but didn't dare close her eyes. If she was going to die now, she would see it.

"Truth is, the game was rigged from the start." And the pistol fired.

**oOoOoOo**

Gasping, Hailee shot straight up in her bed, her chest heaving and sweat forming over her forehead. She glanced around frantically, seeing that she was inside her home, in her bed and out of harm. In the corner of the room, Rex had woken up and whined worryingly. Hailee relaxed the best she could and rested her head on her knees and sobbed.

For almost every night since the encounter at Goodsprings she'd woken up like this. Fear etched in her eyes and the unbearable pain of being caught again by Benny.

"Amiga?" Raul said from the doorway. She looked up and was reminded again that she was safe. He sat down beside her and pulled her close while Hailee cried into his shoulder. He was used to this, as well; comforting his friend during the early hours of the morning. He understood she was scared, and he did whatever he could to take those bad memories away.

Boone was awoken by her also, yet he made no move to exit his warm bed. Sure, her cries did something to him. They hurt his heart, but he was trying to protect her during the day and almost every minute in between. Wasn't that enough reassurance from his part?

Hailee wiped away the rest of her tears and smiled at Raul. He grinned back and hugged her one last time before retreating from the room, closing the door softly. It was all she needed; a short embrace and knowledge of secureness that her friends actually loved and cared about her. Maybe not so much from Boone, but she couldn't expect everything out of him. He'd gone through too much, anyways, with loosing Carla and all.

Yawning, Hailee stood up and made her way slowly to the kitchen inside the home. This wasn't exactly _her _house, but when they found it, it had been empty and still in good shape. There were two bedrooms upstairs and a living room, kitchen and bathroom downstairs. It wasn't much, but it was enough.

Hailee munched quietly on a box of Sugar Bombs, plopping down onto the torn, green couch she and Raul had found in the basement. She ran a hand through her long brown hair carefully, swallowing as she did so.

Only three months ago, Hailee would have never made it to this point if she hadn't have been saved back in Goodsprings. The people there had been so nice to her; Cheyenne, Doctor Mitchell, even Victor, who had already scared her on a few occasions. Hailee found out about Benny after she awoke since he'd shot her, and still the sound of his name brought disgusted chills down her spine. _Benny_. Fucking snitch.

She left Goodsprings after helping Ringo and the others fight against the Powder Gangers. After that, Hailee never intended to go back. She would go straight to New Vegas and put a bullet through Benny's head. See how he likes it. She'd take back the Platinum Chip and destroy it, break it, something to rid of it.

"You're still up."

Hailee jumped, spinning around to meet the eyes of Boone. He stood at the top of the staircase wearing a plain white shirt and boxers, not to mention the beret on his head. Sighing contently, she turned back to her Sugar Bombs.

"Any why are you?" She replied. Hailee learned quickly that Boone wasn't the man to hold long conversations, so she learned to keep it simple when they spoke.

"I couldn't get back to sleep after…" Boone stopped himself from saying anything further. He could be harsh, but he wasn't rude or mean. He knew that Hailee already felt bad about her every-so-often-nightmares, and she couldn't help it either way.

"Sorry." She muttered, setting the Sugar Bombs down. Boone watched Hailee, trying to read her expressions, yet came up with nothing. She was always so impassive, but he couldn't blame her. She'd told him countless times that he needed to show some interest at times.

Boone stood at the steps for a few more minutes, an awkward silence forming between them. When Rex trotted down the stairs past him, he let out a small, relieved breathe. Hailee chuckled quietly as Rex jumped onto the couch beside her and settled down at her feet. Her smile comforted Boone, made him feel like she was still happy no matter what happened.

He remembered the first day he'd seen her. She was walking toward Novac, wearing Mercenary clothing and staring at her Pipboy. She must have been nineteen or so. When she passed, Boone forgot about her and switched places with Manny inside the stupid dinosaur's mouth, keeping watch over the valley.

"Hello?" She'd said. He remembered leaping from his seat and pointing his gun straight at her. The look he received flabbergasted him, and for a second he felt like the Legion, the one who had taken Carla and ordered her at gunpoint.

"Jesus, don't sneak up on me like that," Was his reply. "Next time you might lose an arm."

At first, he wanted nothing more than to get away from her. She reminded him too much of Carla; the long hair and bright blue eyes. Yet, they chatted for a short while, until Boone was left without a beret and holding what little hope he had left.

She'd reappeared in front of the Novac with a dark figure at her side. One shot and his enemy was on the ground.

"How'd you know?" He asked her, placing his beret back on his head.

"I found the Bill of Sale," She'd answered. "Look, Craig-"

"Call me Boone." He'd snapped.

"Boone, listen, would you want to tag along with me? I'm trying to get to New Vegas and I could use a-"

Again, he interrupted.

"I'd love to." Hailee smiled and held out her hand, which he soon shook softly. She glanced down at the dead body of Jeannie. Someone would find her later, she supposed.

"But kid-"

"Hey," Hailee said with a smirk. Boone cracked the tiniest of smiles. Hailee knew she was getting somewhere. "Call me Hailee."


End file.
